


This Time Together

by PUNKSPIKE



Category: Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Romance, Seven Minutes In Heaven Game, Trapped in a Box
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:22:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25280803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PUNKSPIKE/pseuds/PUNKSPIKE
Summary: Saber and Nero are both pining for each other, but they're both too scared to confess. Cú and Kiara come up with a plan to get them together once and for all.
Relationships: Artoria Pendragon | Saber/Nero | Saber
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	This Time Together

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Emanuelb613](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emanuelb613/gifts).



“Hey! HEY!” Nero demanded. “Come on! Put me down!”

“That’s what I’m doing.” Cú calmly stated, carrying Nero over to the empty washing machine box.

“Can’t you just-” Saber tried to speak, already being lowered into the box by Kiara.

“Nah. Come on! You know the rules!” Cú stated, placing down Nero into the box immediately after Saber. She tried moving her legs to the sides to make extra room, as Nero was dropped in with her knees against her own chest.

“What rules?” Saber asked, staring up at Cú. He let go of Nero and Kiara closed the box lid on top of them. Nero immediately tried pushing back up on the lid, but it was being held down.

“Seven minutes in heaven! You know what to do!” Kiara gushed, her voice now muffled from the outside of the box.

“What are you talking about? Why?”

“Wha- Hey! Is that tape?” Nero said, hearing the clicking sound of packing tape being taken off of its roll.

“Yep.” Cú casually stated, placing down a layer of tape over the top slit.

“What? We’re gonna suffocate in here!” Nero retaliated.

“There’s some little handle holes in the sides. You’ll be fine. Besides, what else would I close the box with?”

“Can we at least adjust? It’s really small in here!” Nero tried bargaining.

“Hmm… Nah.”

“Why?” Nero asked.

“It doesn’t have to be long if you don’t make it that way!” Kiara exclaimed.

“You know the rules.” Cú coldly added.

“Wh- Cú! We don’t know the rules!”

“I think he walked away.” Saber consoled, trying to glance out of the handle holes, to no avail.

“CÚ! KIARA!” Nero shouted, met without a response from him. Saber quietly chuckled at the attempt.

“I’m pretty sure we’re going to be stuck for a while.”

“Umu… I would say get comfortable, but...” Nero tried to gesture to the tight space, but her arms were pinned with one to the side of the box and the other pinned from Saber’s knee. Saber was set down before Nero, so she had to form an impromptu shell around Nero’s balled-up body. Her legs extended to the sides of the box, but both of their short statures barely helping with breathing room. Nero was situated perpendicular to Saber, her shoulder digging into her collarbone, and their foreheads would be touching of Saber wasn’t stiffening her neck to prevent it.

They stayed in near silence, only for a moment. They could hear each other’s breathing but didn’t focus on it. Both of them had one semi-free arm to use, and Saber quickly tried to break open the box top using it. 

“What are you doing?” Asked Nero, confused due to the unnatural movement.

“Trying to break out of here,” Saber said, grunting as she tried to shimmy for extra space. Nero nodded and used her one free arm to try and push on the top as well. This went on for a short moment before the air inside of the box started to heat up and made both of them take a breather. Between their breaths, Nero spoke.

“I have an idea.”

“What’s your plan?” Saber quietly asked

“Umu… On the count of three, I’m going to spring up, you push up on the lid as hard as you can. Got it?”

“Yeah.”

Okay, Three…”

Saber clenched a fist up to the box’s ceiling.

“Two…”

Nero shifted some of her weight off the ground, pressing her head against the top.

“One!”

They both struck the top of the box with as much force as they could make in the tiny space. The box’s lid didn’t budge, however, the box itself did. Their slam made the box jump slightly, and it tipped over onto its side, putting Nero and Saber onto their sides as well. Their heads both smacked onto the ground, still feeling the impact of the floor through the cardboard,

“Ah! sh… Ow.” Nero said, cracking open her eyelids. She tried to touch the sore spot on her head, but her other arm was now pinned as well. She glanced up at Saber, who was opening up her eyes as well.

“Nero, are you okay?” Saber asked, an unfamiliar tone in her voice.

“Umu, I’m fine. Can you move at all?” Nero responded. With a grunt, Saber unpinned her arm from under her own body, still able to move it. She gently used her free arm to gently touch the back of Nero’s head, catching her off guard. Before she could ask what she was doing, Saber spoke.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You got a little bump under your hair.”

“I'll be alright, I think my bun took a lot of the impact. Thank you for checking.” Nero responded. She barely blushed, out of embarrassment, since she couldn’t return the favor, which she hated doing.

~~~

Kiara glanced back at the box, watching the sideways box fumble around as the two tried moving. She had been looking at the box since it had tipped.

“You think we should help them?” Kiara asked, rotating back around. Cú finished a sip of his beer before speaking.

“Nah. They need this time together.”

“Yeah. Isn’t this all because of something Saber said to you, right?”

“Sorta. She was quiet forever, but recently she’s started talking to me again about crushes and shit.”

“Really? Saber? I mean, I kind of always Nero had some feelings, but it’s pretty hard to imagine.”

“Yeah, I know, right? I thought Saber was just super serious and silent all the time. She’s a total lovebird for her, and we _know_ Nero’s super hungry for real love.”

“Yeah, but isn’t she usually talking about, like, the love of Rome or the people when she’s talking about that?”

“I dunno. Besides, I know that Nero has got some type of thing for Saber.”

“Well, yeah, we were just talking about it when we were waiting for her.”

“Either way, I’m gonna go crazy if I catch Saber starin’ all dreamy at Nero another time without any moves made between them. She’s totally got a hard-on for her.”

“Do people even say that if they’re both...?”

“I mean- I don’t know. She’s got a fuckin’ uh…” Cú racked his mind to think of some witty answer to replace hard-on, to no avail. “Whatever bruh! You know what I mean.”

Kiara snorted, looking back at the box, seeing the fumbling continue. “I give them three minutes before they kiss.”

“Three?” Cú queried. “You’ve seen how stubborn they are already! Imma say… ten. Ten minutes.”

“Is that a bet?”

Cú quickly reached for his wallet on the coffee table, always eager for a good wager. He pulled out a thousand-yen note and smacked it down on the table. “You’re on.”

Kiara opened her purse and pulled out her phone to start the stopwatch, and threw her half of the bet onto the table. “We’ll see.”

~~~

“Why did they even do this again?”

“I don’t really know. I was just talking to Cú a little while before you got here, those two talked a little bit in private, then Kiara picked me up when you walked in.”

“What were you two talking about?”

“It… Small talk. Nothing important.” Saber muttered. Nero couldn’t see Saber all too well, but she was close enough where she could feel the heat of Saber blushing against the side of her head.

“Kiara said it was for seven minutes, right?”

“Yeah, seven minutes in heaven, something like that.”

“Oh, I know. It’s when you lock people in a closet and wait for them to kiss.” Nero explicated. Saber stayed silent for a few moments but spoke again when Nero turned and made her snap back to attention.

“...I wish we had a closet. This box is way too restricting.”

“Yeah, I'm already losing feeling in my arm! I don’t know if I can make it through the full seven minutes.” Nero exclaimed.

“Do you want to try to move?”

“Yes,” Nero responded, quickly fumbling around. Saber was trying to shuffle around too but had much less free room. She lifted up her own pinned arm to assist Nero in her adjusting, as she tried to get up off of her side.

~~~

“Hmmm…” Kiara mumbled, lost in thought and staring at the now-moving box.

“What?” Cú impatiently asked.

“What happens if they do _more_ than just kiss? Do they get like, bonus points or something?” Cú quietly chucked to himself, dipping his head down.

“We don’t need to worry, you know they’re never gonna do that, ‘specially not here.”

“Hey…” Kiara said, side-eyeing the box, talking in a low tone. “You never know…”

Cú simply chuckled again and looked back mindlessly to the TV. The two sat in awkward silence, the air only filled by the speaker’s audio and the indistinguishable speech coming from the box. Wanting to break the silence, Cú changed the subject.

“It’s pretty cool that Raiko let us crash in her basement for the night.”

“Yeah. Y’know, she may not be a mom, but she is _the cool mom._ ”

“Damn straight.” Cú agreed, taking another sip out of his can. “I wonder if she would still let us crash if she knew this was goin’ on.”

“This?”

“Yeah, y’know. Taping two friends in an old washing machine box so that they could kiss.” Cú chucked, looking back at the box once more.

“She probably loves this kind of stupid stuff. I know I do.”

~~~

“Alright… is that better?” Saber asked, moving her free arm one last time. Nero was laying on her back and was still balled up. Saber had her bent legs on the walls of the box, one high up behind Nero’s head on the ground and the other one bent low in front of Nero, which was pushed out against the cardboard, warping it for a little extra space. 

“It’s better, umu…” Nero said, shuffling around her back. “Still very uncomfortable, though. Do you feel any better?”

“Yeah, my other arm isn’t stuck anymore, so that’s good.”

“How long do you think it’s been?”

“I don't know… two, three minutes?” Saber said with uncertainty. Nero groaned and laid her head down onto Saber’s calf. Nero wiped her forehead and brushed her bangs off of it for a moment before speaking.

“I don’t know how much longer we can do this.”

“Me neither, I’m boiling in here.”

“I guess sweatpants and crewnecks really weren’t the right choice for us tonight.” Nero joked, attempting to gesture to their clothes.

“At least we’re not wearing our gowns.”

“Oh, god. Can you imagine? We’d probably be dead by now if we had to stuff all that fabric in here too!” Nero snickered. They both shared a good laugh that died out with coughing.

“But for real, we need to get out of here.”

“We could always try pretending to kiss,” Nero suggested, subconsciously hoping that Saber wouldn’t agree.

“I don’t think they’re that stupid. That’s probably been done a million times.

“Umu...” Nero exclaimed, loosening her muscles and drooping her limbs down slightly. Saber quietly chuckled and shook her head, making Nero respond again. “Why are you laughing?”

“Oh, nothing. I just- I like it when you say that.”

“What? Umu?”

“Yeah,” Saber responded. This time, Saber felt the slightest climb in warmth from Nero’s face, another blush unable to be hidden by the darkness.

“I know. You’ve said that before…” Nero quietly assured. A subtle smile went across Nero’s face, and the two stayed in a comfortable silence as the time passed. The smile and blush made Saber grow more confident as she gathered her thoughts. When Nero glanced up at her again, it looked like she was almost completely lost in thought. Nero wanted to keep talking, but she didn’t want to interrupt whatever Saber was focusing on. The few moments felt like an hour as the air grew more stale and humid inside of the box.

“Nero?” Saber gently quavered, the tremble barely noticeable.

“Umu?”

“Can we… talk?”

“Yeah… You can tell me whatever you need to” Nero responded, shifting her head to look up at Saber, and making eye contact. Saber’s eyes darted off to the side, she seemed deep in thought for a few more seconds before she spoke. She let out a small exhale before she spoke.

“I know you’ve been talking to me for a while, Having you here with us, and with me, it’s made me... _think_ differently.” Saber paused. “You just- I don’t know. You think in such a different way than most of the people I’ve known… I enjoy having you with me in our time together, but I don’t always know how to relate…”

“Umu… What do you mean?”

“I-I mean- I just- um,” Saber was stumbling over all the words she wanted to say. She took a breath to gain her bearings once more and continued: “Most of- most of the time I get too embarrassed to say anything that I want to say to you.”

“It’s okay, Saber, don’t be afraid,” Nero said, adjusting her head upwards to gaze into her eyes. “You can tell me anything.” Saber felt as if her heart were ready to burst out of her chest, unsure if it was love or anxiousness. She took a deep, shaky breath and slowly continued.

“I used to never really think about it before, but you always speak of love, with so much passion and devotion behind your words. I want to try to give you that love that you’ve longed for. I… I really hope that I can.”

Nero’s face turned pink, up to her ears, and her eyes darted off to the side. Saber’s heart beat faster, unable to tell what she was thinking in the darkness. Did she do something wrong? Did the confession make things worse between them? Her mind raced through a hundred different outcomes. After a few seconds, she snapped out of it when Nero slowly placed her forehead against Saber’s. Saber could feel Nero’s warm breath as she tilted her head upwards and leaned closer. Their lips met off-center, but the kiss still sent a burning sensation of passion between them. The kiss was short-lived but well worth it.

“We can learn to love together. I don't need my lover to have talent. It's fine if they're just beautiful.” Nero soothed, a small grin on her face. Overcome with a wave of confidence, Saber cradled the back of Nero’s head, pulling her face closer to hers. Putting her head at an angle, their foreheads touched again and their lips met once more. Nero let out a very low moan, quiet enough where they were the only ones to hear it. After a few moments, Saber gently let the tip of her tongue through her lips, meeting Nero’s doing the same thing. Saber ran her fingers through Nero’s hair as she tenderly placed her hand on Saber’s neck, the only thing she could really do in her cramped position.

The second kiss was breathtaking, almost as good as the first. It ended with a need for air, the box still small and hot and difficult to breathe in. The two didn’t do much besides gaze into each other’s eyes tenderly, panting for air with open mouths. Not even fully catching her breath, Nero didn’t want to hold on any longer and dipped her head forward once more.

~~~

“You uh, you think it’s time to let them out?” Cú said, glancing down at the stopwatch on Kiara’s phone. The T.V. was turned down out of curiosity to what was happening

“What? Are you trying to keep the time closer to your bet?”

“What? No! I-”

“I already won!!!” Kiara said, dramatically snatching the notes off the table and stopping the timer as it nearly hit seven minutes.

“I was saying it’s been like seven minutes, the game’s over.”

“Okay, loser.”

“C’mon bruh!”

“Oh yeah man can you order a ten dollar pizza for us real quic- ohhhh. Nevermind man, sorry.”

“Dude, please shut up!” Cú exclaimed, pressing the back of his head against the wall behind the couch. “I was just trying to follow the name of the game.”

“Nah, I’ve never really played it with a time limit. Besides, when have you ever played by the rules?” Kiara asked. Cú performed a long sip out of his beer can before responding.

“When my money’s on the line.”

“Eh, whatever, We should just let them keep going, why interrupt? It’s just like you said: _they need this time together._ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading to this point! This is one of my first fanfics, and my first Fate one, so criticism and comments are greatly appreciated!
> 
> Useless fact: Umu was said 8 times, and it makes up like 0.3% of the fic.


End file.
